Deep Down Rivalry Between Koreas Japan Transcends Sport

Deep Down Rivalry Between Koreas Japan Transcends Sport

As South Korea’s national soccer coach prepared to play Japan in a 1954 World Cup qualifier, President Syngman Rhee, who’d been liberated, with the rest of Korea, from Japan’s brutal colonial rule in 1945, had some advice should the Koreans lose: “Don’t think about coming back alive,” he supposedly told the coach. “Just throw yourself into the Genkai Sea.”

There are sports rivalries, and then there’s Korea versus Japan — an often toxic mix of violent history and and politics, with a (un)healthy dose of cultural chauvinism and envy mixed in.

The fierce grudges over historical persecution and a thousand perceived national and cultural slights cannot be untwined from the sports for many Koreans. These swirling emotions are front and center Wednesday as a combined team of North and South Koreans plays regional power Japan in women’s hockey.

Both have yet to win a game these Olympics. Both desperately want that win to come against their loathed rival.

“It’s not just me. If you’re a Korean, you feel it deep down in your heart that our team must always beat Japan in any sport,” said Choi Young-wook, 49, a South Korean. “It will be deeply satisfying if the joint team defeats them, because Japan doesn’t want the Koreas to be unified again.”

The Koreas share much, not least language and culture, but they’ve also been divided for seven decades and are still in a technical state of war. Just weeks ago, there were real fears of military conflict here. More than any temporary cooperation on the hockey ice, then, it may be their shared hatred of Japan — and the near universal perception that Tokyo has never fully apologized for or acknowledged its colonial evils — that joins them most forcefully.

The last time the Koreas were unified in fact was during Japanese rule from 1910 to 1945. The end of WWII saw the division of the peninsula into a U.S.-backed south and Soviet-backed north.

In the South, this history can sometimes feel fresh.

Weekly demonstrations have gone on for more than two decades in front of the Japanese Embassy in Seoul by an ever-dwindling number of the thousands of Korean women forced into sexual slavery by the Japanese military during the colonial era. Koreans also like to raise the debt Japan owes mainland Asia (Korea and China) for the large elements of religion, culture and language it borrowed during its formative centuries. All but forgotten in Japan, there are angry memories still here about a hill of sliced-off Korean noses collected during a 16th-century Japanese invasion of the peninsula.

All this and more is in the air as these two hockey teams meet.

“We really want to beat Japan, even if we have to literally throw our bodies into it,” forward Choi Ji-yeon, a South Korean, said. Defeating Japan would bring “much happiness” to the Korean people because of the “bad things that happened with Japan in the past.”

The animosity has only seemed to increase during the Olympics.

Analyst Joshua Cooper Ramo threw kindling on an already healthy fire when he said during NBC’s coverage of the opening ceremony, speaking of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s attendance, that “every Korean will tell you that Japan is a cultural and technical and economic example that has been so important to their own transformation.”

Some Koreans might grant improvements in infrastructure and other areas during the colonization. But it is difficult to imagine anyone, north or south, putting that on the same level as 35-years of Japanese oppression and the systematic looting of Korean resources and manpower.

Many in Japan and South Korea watched with unease as North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and U.S. President Donald Trump traded threats of war over the last year amid a near-constant barrage of weapons testing by the North, which is approaching its goal of an arsenal of nuclear missiles that can reliably target U.S. cities.

Japanese officials have expressed concern during the games at Kim Jong Un’s sister flying south with an invitation to talk, which South Korean President Moon Jae-in is considering. Past conciliatory moves by the Koreas have only allowed North Korea breathing room so it could continue its weapons programs, Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera said this month, according to the Asahi Shimbun. Abe also warned Moon not to fall for North Korea’s “smile diplomacy” because the North remains committed to nuclear weapons.

Japan’s maneuvers have been noticed here.

Kim Seo-jin, a 23-year-old South Korean student, “very much” wants to see the Koreans defeat Japan, in part because of her anger over Abe. “What has Abe ever done for peace?” Kim said. “The Koreas are making huge strides toward peace with the joint team, but all Abe did was make blunt insults about it.”

The Korean team has had some tough games, and Japan is the favorite Wednesday. Korea lost 8-0 to Switzerland on Saturday, and then 8-0 to Sweden on Monday. After that game, Korean players vowed redemption in their last preliminary round match against Japan.

“If you asked our players three years ago what their goal was for the Olympics, they just wanted to beat Japan,” Sarah Murray, the combined Korean team’s Canadian coach, said after the loss to Sweden. “In addition to the history of the two countries our biggest rival is Japan. They’re the top women’s team in Asia and our players have always been striving to beat Japan.”

Kim Jung-hoon, 44, said that lingering ill feelings over their shared past has made Korea versus Japan a great sports rivalry. And her take on Wednesday’s game? “It’s going to be intense.”

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Foster Klug is South Korea bureau chief for The Associated Press and has covered Asia since 2005. Follow him on Twitter at @apklug. Follow Kim Tong-hyung on Twitter at @KimTongHyung. AP correspondent Hyung-jin Kim contributed to this story.

Ted Ligety Finishes 15th In Olympic Gs Title Defense

Ted Ligety knew he hadn’t turned in the best opening run in defense of his Olympic giant slalom title. What he couldn’t tell as he was heading down the hill was just how poorly he’d done.

“I was really surprised when I saw the time,” the 33-year-old American said Sunday after the first of two GS runs at the Pyongyang Alpine Center effectively ended any hopes of another medal in a race he won at the 2014 Sochi Games.

To be precise, Ligety’s leg of 1 minute, 10.71 seconds put him in 20th place and 2.44 seconds off the pace set by favorite Marcel Hirscher, the Austrian superstar who already won the Alpine combined gold at these Olympics and owns a record six consecutive World Cup overall titles.

“My goal was definitely to try to be challenging for a medal here. I thought that was definitely within my range. Way out of it now,” said Ligety, who finished fifth on Tuesday in the combined, an event he collected gold in at the 2006 Turin Olympics.

He was able to smile and crack a joke when asked to entertain the far-fetched notion that, because anything can happen, perhaps there was still a chance of a high finish at a mountain where he claimed his first career World Cup race victory back in March 2006.

“I mean, maybe if we get some good wind gusts this afternoon and I get a nice tailwind and those guys get a nice headwind — if something funky happens, then maybe I have a hope and a prayer,” Ligety said. “But if it’s a normal, fair race, then this is way too big of a detriment to climb out of.”

All in all, rather unlikely.

The giant slalom has been Ligety’s forte for years.

In addition to the triumph at Sochi, which made him the only U.S. male Alpine skier with two Olympic golds, he won GS world championships in 2011, 2013 and 2015, along with a bronze in the event at the 2009 worlds.

But on Sunday morning in South Korea, he misjudged the course.

“I just thought it would run maybe a little bit more challenging than maybe it did,” Ligety said. “When you do those little slides, it costs you a ton of time. A few too many of those. … Maybe thought the rolls were going to come into play a little bit more, and they were easy. No excuse.”

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The Latest Swiss Beats Korea 2-0 In Womens Olympic Hockey

Sabrina Zollinger scored on a power play in the first period and Switzerland beat Korea 2-0 in a classification hockey game after routing the Koreans 8-0 in their Olympic opener.

Janine Alder made 19 saves for the shutout Sunday, with Florence Schelling getting a day off after playing in a 6-2 loss to the “Olympic athletes from Russia” in the quarterfinals. Evelina Raselli also scored for the Russians, who won bronze in Sochi.

They will play either Sweden or Japan for their final slotting Tuesday.

Shin So Jung made 51 saves, and the Koreans also killed three of four penalties. Shin gave up a hat trick to Alina Muller in the first period of the opener against Switzerland, and she said she felt a little pressure.

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3:15 p.m.

Patrick Hager scored in regulation and again in a shootout as Germany beat Norway 2-1 to wrap up group play at the Pyeongchang Olympics.

Danny aus den Birken made 28 saves and stopped all three shots he saw in the shootout Sunday.

Germany opened the scoring on a power play in the second when Hager took a pass from Dominik Kahun and stuffed the puck past goaltender Lars Haugen.

Norway tied the game in the third period. Both teams played cautiously in overtime, with Norway failing to capitalize even with nearly two minutes on the man advantage.

Haugen made 36 saves but didn’t stop a shot in the shootout.

Both teams face elimination games Tuesday to get into the quarterfinals.

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2:55 p.m.

Marcel Hirscher has won the Olympic men’s giant slalom. It’s his second gold medal at the Pyeongchang Games.

The 28-year-old Austrian star extended his first-run lead to win by a huge margin of 1.27 seconds over hard-charging Henrik Kristoffersen of Norway. Kristoffersen rose from 10th-fastest in the morning.

Hirscher can complete a sweep of three individual titles in his best event, the slalom, which is scheduled for Thursday.

Hirscher also won the Alpine combined Tuesday. Pinturault took silver in that race.

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2:50 p.m.

Norway’s Oystein Braaten has captured the gold medal in ski slopestyle at the Pyeongchang Olympics, far outdistancing American Gus Kenworthy, who failed to land any of his three runs and came in last.

Braaten edged out American Nick Goepper, who added a silver medal to the bronze he won four years ago in Sochi.

Canadian Alex Beaulieu-Marchand took the bronze.

The buzz for this event swirled around Kenworthy, who came out as gay about two years after capturing the silver medal in Russia and has since become a strong voice in the LGBT community.

With family and boyfriend Matt Wilkas watching, Kenworthy bobbled all three runs in the finals. After the last one, he shrugged, shook his head and said, “It’s OK,” to the TV cameras before walking off the course.

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2:30 p.m.

Ticket sales for the Pyeongchang Olympics have exceeded 1 million.

Local organizing committee spokesman Sung Baik-you says the 1 million mark exceeds expectations — 692,443 people attended games venues from Feb. 9 to Feb. 17, and there’s still about a week remaining.

Sung says, “Our target was 1,068,000, so we don’t have many tickets remaining.”

Attendance peaked Saturday, with 146,506 people attending on a holiday for the Lunar New Year. There were long delays in traffic around Pyeongchang on a holiday that usually is the busiest on Korean roads every year, but games organizers weren’t disappointed.

Sung acknowledges traffic jams and bus operation interruptions but says, “Nonetheless, I think we can say we were successful in attracting spectators, so it was a positive thing.”

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2:15 p.m.

Lindsey Vonn has returned to the Olympic Alpine speed race course, where she was fastest in a practice run for Wednesday’s downhill race.

One day after placing sixth in the super-G at Jeongseon, Vonn clocked 1 minute, 41.03 seconds on the 1 ?-mile (2.8-kilometer) downhill course.

The American star was 0.18 seconds faster than Ramona Siebenhofer, with the Austrian’s time recorded despite missing a gate.

Alice McKennis of the United States was third-fastest, 0.53 behind Vonn.

Sunday’s practice was the first of three official training days before Vonn tries to regain the Olympic title she won in 2010.

The surprise super-G gold medalist, Ester Ledecka of the Czech Republic, did not take part in the practice. Ledecka is also due to compete in snowboard parallel giant slalom this week.

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1:30 p.m.

Russian officials have a store of uniforms ready if their team is formally reinstated for the Pyeongchang Olympics closing ceremony.

The head of the delegation of “Olympic Athletes from Russia” Stanislav Pozdnyakov, wouldn’t say where the uniforms are being stored, but says “as regards the closing ceremony, we’re ready for any development, including with extra uniforms.”

Russian athletes in Pyeongchang have been required to compete under the Olympic flag in neutral uniforms as punishment for Russian doping at the 2014 Games in Sochi.

The International Olympic Committee says it could allow them to attend the closing ceremony in Team Russia uniforms under the Russian flag if the team keeps to its IOC-mandated status during the competitions. A decision is expected Saturday, the day before the ceremony.

Pozdnyakov declines to say where the equipment is being kept, but says “if we need them, they’ll arrive on time. For the ceremony, all the athletes will have them.”

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1 p.m.

Pyeongchang Olympics organizers say the Korean man who died after being found unresponsive at a media village was a 53-year-old interpreter working for a consortium of Japanese broadcasters.

The man was not responsive when he was found Friday in his room by a co-worker. He was pronounced dead on arrival at a nearby hospital.

Sung says organizers will not release the man’s name out of respect for the man’s family.

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12:40 p.m.

How do Olympians celebrate winning gold medals? If you’re Ester Ledecka of the Czech Republic, you go to KFC.

Ledecka had a surprise victory Saturday in the super-G at the Pyeongchang Olympics. She’s also a snowboarder, and that was supposed to be her best chance for a medal.

Associated Press reporters ran into her later that night at the KFC not far from the snowboard course, where she’ll compete Thursday in qualifying for the parallel giant slalom.

She said she still couldn’t really believe she’d won. Clearly, she hadn’t made plans for a big celebration.

She ate quietly, basically unnoticed, with three other members of the Czech contingent.

As she stood up to leave, she casually picked up her gold medal and draped it around her neck. The people at the next table clapped.

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11:40 a.m.

Ole Einar Bjoerndalen, the “king of the biathlon,” says he’s anxious to see Norway cross-country skier Marit Bjoergen surpass his record of 13 medals and become the most decorated athlete in the history of the Winter Games.

Bjoergen won her 13th medal Saturday, taking home gold in the women’s relay.

Bjoerndalen thinks Bjoergen will break the record before the games are over. There are two more women’s cross-country events — the team sprint relay on Wednesday and the mass start on Sunday.

Bjoergen, who is 37, says she won’t allow herself to think about the record. She’s just focused on the next race.

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11:20 a.m.

Marcel Hirscher of Austria has taken a big first-run lead in the Olympic men’s giant slalom and is well positioned for his second gold medal of the Pyeongchang Games.

Hirscher was 0.63 seconds faster than Alexis Pinturault of France. They finished 1-2 in the Alpine combined on Tuesday.

A Norwegian is third, but it isn’t Henrik Kristoffersen, who is Hirscher’s main rival in the World Cup.

Leif Kristian Nestvold-Haugen has 0.66 to make up on Hirscher in the second run this afternoon. Kristoffersen was 1.31 back in 10th place.

American Ted Ligety is struggling to retain his Olympic, trailing by 2.44 and out of the top 15.

North Koreans Choe Myong Gwang and Kang Song Il are scheduled to start wearing the last two bibs, Nos. 109 and 110.

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10:45 a.m.

Two top racers have had crashing falls though the finish line in the Olympic men’s giant slalom.

Both Luca de Aliprandini of Italy and Manuel Feller of Austria lost balance approaching the next-to-last gate and were disqualified.

De Aliprandini was set for the second-fastest time behind leader Marcel Hirscher of Austria when he went across the course into safety nets. He appeared to hurt his left leg.

Feller was turned around and slid backwards on his back. The race started under blue skies on a clear, cold day at Yongpyong Alpine Center.

Hirscher, who already won gold in Alpine combined, was fastest by 0.63 seconds after 10 skiers had started.

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10:15 a.m.

The world’s best male Alpine skier, Marcel Hirscher, will compete for his second gold medal of the Pyeongchang Olympics.

Hirscher starts as the favorite in the giant slalom Sunday at Yongpyong Alpine Center. He’s already got a gold medal from his first event, the Alpine combined.

The 28-year-old Austrian is expected to duel with his main rival in World Cup races, Henrik Kristoffersen of Norway. American Ted Ligety will try to defend the title he won at the 2014 Sochi Olympics.

Also Sunday, there are men’s preliminary-round hockey games between Canada and Korea and between Finland and Sweden, among others. In women’s hockey, Switzerland will play Korea and Sweden will play Japan, though none is a medal contender.

And the bobsled competition kicks off with the first heats for the men’s two-man teams, with medals to be awarded Monday.

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Braaten Is 1st Kenworthy Last In Olympic Slopestyle

Braaten, a 22-year-old from Norway, captured the gold medal in ski slopestyle Sunday, far outdistancing the dinged-up Kenworthy, who failed to land any of his three runs and came in last.

Braaten, who learned the sport by setting up rails and jumps in his backyard, edged out American Nick Goepper, who added a silver medal to the bronze he won four years ago in Sochi.

Alex Beaulieu-Marchand of Canada took this year’s bronze.

But most of the eyeballs on this sunny day at the action park were on Kenworthy, the 26-year-old from Colorado who came out as gay about two years after capturing the silver medal in Russia. He has since become a strong, steady voice in the LGBT community, and has used the Pyeongchang Games to amplify his message .

“It didn’t work out for me, which is a bummer,” Kenworthy said. “I would’ve loved to have landed a run for sure. Definitely disappointing.”

But there were other victories that, in the long run, will probably be even bigger than the gold medal.

NBC showed Kenworthy kissing his boyfriend , Matt Wilkas, at the bottom after qualifying, as the two stood amid a number of rainbow gay-pride flags waving in the crowd during a break in the action.

“I didn’t even know that was a televised moment at all,” Kenworthy said. “That’s something that’s amazing. It’s something I wanted at the last Olympics, was to share a kiss with my boyfriend at the bottom and it’s something I was too scared to do for myself. And so, to be able to do that, to give him a kiss, to have that affection broadcast to the world, is incredible.”

It capped what has been a whirlwind of a week for Kenworthy, who broke his thumb in training earlier in the week and had to have several milliliters of blood drained from his hip — injuries he detailed to his growing number of followers on social media .

Was it still an OK day?

“I think so,” Wilkas said. “I know he’s happy to have just been here and to have made it into the finals. It’s amazing. He was injured going into this. It limited his competition. He did great in qualification. Maybe he was just too injured to follow through in this. I don’t know.”